Well I suppose this makes sense but I always seem to see more wildlife when I'm walking alone versus with friends like yesterday. Kind of a bummer since I really wanted them to get some good photos but of course we were probably talking too much. It was slightly warmer out today at 28 degrees but the warm sun we had yesterday was masked by clouds, making it feel yet again like January or February instead of late March. The first thing I spotted today on the west side was a Northern Shrike looking out over the middle of the park.
I decided to hike in closer for a better photo and luckily the snow was just soft enough to stay somewhat quiet. I found myself almost underneath him and snapped as many pics as I could before bumping him. He stayed put for quite a while and this is my favorite one, though not quite a typical view. Since I was already now on the edge of the field I decided to continue along a Deer path through some interesting groves of scrubby trees. Ahead of me I saw one single black bird in a clump of very thick Buckthorn Trees. I wondered if... and then sure enough it stretched out it's wing and showed me a dull colored Orangy-yellow patch.
I thought maybe I saw one yesterday but now for sure I've seen my first Red-winged Blackbird of the season! Hardly a decent photo here but I wanted to document it for my own purposes. All along my hike today I was spotting Northern Cardinals everywhere. I must have seen 20 of them in the first 30 minutes I was out.
This female was being pursued relentlessly by a bright red male and I watched the pair of them for some time before the female came out right in front of me and I couldn't help but take a few photos. Every time I watch Cardinals I'm always amazed at how big and thick their beaks are. It it almost equal in size to the rest of their head. On the north side I was cruising along but scanning the trees as I always do. Quite high up but in plain view was a Great Horned Owl looking straight out over the trail. I was pleasantly surprised to spot him so easily as they can be somewhat tough to locate without the help of a lot of squawking Crows.
Though I was tempted to get in closer, I stayed on the trail since it's highly possible they could be nesting in the area and I didn't want to disturb them. Besides I had a fairly unobstructed view right from the trail. It is always neat to see Owls at the park and with Spring just around the corner they will be getting harder and harder to see very quickly. Towards the end of my walk I spotted a Hawk flying overhead and he darted outside the park behind an area of homes. There is a short connecting path here out to the neighborhood and I followed it just in case I could catch a glimpse of where the Hawk landed. Instead I ended up watching a group of Dark-eyed Juncos foraging on the edge of the woods. As they hopped around, I noticed one Junco that stood out very distinctively. It had rusty orange sides and at first I thought I was seeing a Towhee! But the size was not right at all. It was clearly the size and shape of the other Juncos and was definitely mixing in with the others. I only saw it for a few seconds and got three shots of it. I hung out for a while longer hoping to see it again but I never did.
At the time I honestly did NOT know what I'd seen. So when I got home I immediately looked up Junco's in my new
Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America. To my surprise there was a perfect matching photo right there listed
under Dark-eyed Juncos called an "Oregon Junco." This is apparently a subspecies of a Dark-eyed Junco and technically it is known as the "Oregon Group." I had know idea of such a bird before this so I was pleasantly surprised to realize I'd spotted something brand new at the park!
I decided to hike in closer for a better photo and luckily the snow was just soft enough to stay somewhat quiet. I found myself almost underneath him and snapped as many pics as I could before bumping him. He stayed put for quite a while and this is my favorite one, though not quite a typical view. Since I was already now on the edge of the field I decided to continue along a Deer path through some interesting groves of scrubby trees. Ahead of me I saw one single black bird in a clump of very thick Buckthorn Trees. I wondered if... and then sure enough it stretched out it's wing and showed me a dull colored Orangy-yellow patch. 
I thought maybe I saw one yesterday but now for sure I've seen my first Red-winged Blackbird of the season! Hardly a decent photo here but I wanted to document it for my own purposes. All along my hike today I was spotting Northern Cardinals everywhere. I must have seen 20 of them in the first 30 minutes I was out. 
This female was being pursued relentlessly by a bright red male and I watched the pair of them for some time before the female came out right in front of me and I couldn't help but take a few photos. Every time I watch Cardinals I'm always amazed at how big and thick their beaks are. It it almost equal in size to the rest of their head. On the north side I was cruising along but scanning the trees as I always do. Quite high up but in plain view was a Great Horned Owl looking straight out over the trail. I was pleasantly surprised to spot him so easily as they can be somewhat tough to locate without the help of a lot of squawking Crows. 
Though I was tempted to get in closer, I stayed on the trail since it's highly possible they could be nesting in the area and I didn't want to disturb them. Besides I had a fairly unobstructed view right from the trail. It is always neat to see Owls at the park and with Spring just around the corner they will be getting harder and harder to see very quickly. Towards the end of my walk I spotted a Hawk flying overhead and he darted outside the park behind an area of homes. There is a short connecting path here out to the neighborhood and I followed it just in case I could catch a glimpse of where the Hawk landed. Instead I ended up watching a group of Dark-eyed Juncos foraging on the edge of the woods. As they hopped around, I noticed one Junco that stood out very distinctively. It had rusty orange sides and at first I thought I was seeing a Towhee! But the size was not right at all. It was clearly the size and shape of the other Juncos and was definitely mixing in with the others. I only saw it for a few seconds and got three shots of it. I hung out for a while longer hoping to see it again but I never did. 
At the time I honestly did NOT know what I'd seen. So when I got home I immediately looked up Junco's in my new Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America. To my surprise there was a perfect matching photo right there listed under Dark-eyed Juncos called an "Oregon Junco." This is apparently a subspecies of a Dark-eyed Junco and technically it is known as the "Oregon Group." I had know idea of such a bird before this so I was pleasantly surprised to realize I'd spotted something brand new at the park!
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